


From Within

by DoreyG



Category: Blake & Avery Series - M. J. Carter
Genre: Hugs, M/M, Touch Starvation - Stoic character breaks down on being touched
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-11
Updated: 2021-02-11
Packaged: 2021-03-18 00:40:52
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 659
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29359671
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DoreyG/pseuds/DoreyG
Summary: Blake made a noise when I wrapped my arms around him. It was an incredibly quiet one, soft enough that anybody else would’ve missed it, but I knew him so well that it was as if he had shouted right in my ear.
Relationships: William Avery/Jeremiah Blake
Comments: 4
Kudos: 3
Collections: Bulletproof 20/21





	From Within

**Author's Note:**

  * For [theultimateburrito](https://archiveofourown.org/users/theultimateburrito/gifts).



Blake made a noise when I wrapped my arms around him. It was an incredibly quiet one, soft enough that anybody else would’ve missed it, but I knew him so well that it was as if he had shouted right in my ear.

I immediately drew back from my attempted hug, grasped his upper arms instead and stared down at him in concern. “Are you alright?”

“Yes, fine. It’s just…” Blake hesitated for a long moment, more uncertain than I’d ever seen him. And then slowly looked up at me, his lips firming as if he was preparing to rip yet another bandage off all his festering secrets. “It’s been years since anybody touched me like that.”

It made sense, of course, but somehow I had never really thought of it. Now it had been obviously pointed out to me, though, I could see nothing else: the shuddering, the flush spread across his face, the sped up breathing at even the lightest brush of my fingertips. I had given him one hug, far less than I had given any other person I cared for, and he had already started to fall apart at my touch.

It struck at something within me, something hot and possessive that started roaring whenever Blake did anything even mildly tempting in my company, but I tried my best to ignore it. I gave his upper arms one last instinctive squeeze, and then made to step away. “Do you mind?”

“I don’t know,” Blake said, sounding heartbreakingly honest, and grabbed for my hands before I could move them entirely out of his orbit. He held them for a moment, desperate, and then slowly brought them back to his body. “Please don’t let go.”

I stared at him, and he stared back at me with colour high on his cheeks. I was aware, in a breathless and painfully hopeful fashion, that we were waltzing right up to the line of what was proper; until this I could’ve passed our connection off as something simple, even my attempted hug as an entirely platonic gesture between friends, but after this… Everything would change, there was no way around it.

The me of several years ago, who had been young enough to dream that the entire world was at his feel and acting _properly_ was the key to unlocking it, would’ve probably stepped back and immediately returned to burying his head in the sand. The me of now, who knew so much better, stepped in instead. I gripped Blake’s upper arms for a moment, gently, and then slowly trailed my hands down over his elbows and lower. I caressed his hands, with a grip just this side of a massage. I shifted my hands sideways, and pressed them first against his stomach and then ran them up over his chest. I briefly braced against his shoulders, and then continued to run my fingers up over his neck until I could trace the hard line of his jaw. I cupped his cheeks, ran my fingertips over the arch of his nose, used my thumbs to smooth out the lines of worry creasing his forehead. I even dipped one finger in, rested it briefly against his narrow lips and felt the flicker of a gasp against my flesh.

I’m not truly sure where I would’ve gone from there, kissing him was decidedly an option as was just dropping to my knees, but luckily Blake took the decision away from me. He let out a shattered gasp, tears standing out in his eyes at the intimacy, and practically threw himself into my arms again. I staggered backwards for a moment, but then braced myself to catch him and cradled him to my body as he buried his face in my shoulder and gasped and gasped.

We embraced for a long time, standing there like that. And I can genuinely say that it was one of the most special moments of my life.


End file.
